at the court of Byblos in Phoenicia, where his personal qualifications and eloquent address immediately won the favor and attention of the reigning monarch. Under such august patronage he speedily became a proficient in all the accomplishments of the age; and his excellence in all attainments was such that he even outstripped the shafts of envy. All the young men imitated him-all the women adored him; in fine, he was the leading dandy of his day-minus the tailor-part of the modern beau.

CHAPTER III.

Of his Hunting, and the extraordinary Game he started.

Like many other gallants of his time, Adonis could draw the long-bow-throw the javelin-or the hatchet! and took great delight in the pleasures of the chase. Pursuing his recreations amidst the shades of Libanus, he one day, after having slain and transformed a dappled denizen of the forest into venison, threw himself upon a bank of thyme to seek repose after his exertions (and what time could be better suited to the purpose?)-his antlered prize lying at his feet. After whistling awhile for want of thought, his ideas grad ually congregated in his cranium, and burst forth in the following animated

STRAIN:

When I hear at morn

Chanticleer a-crowing,

The merry hunter's horn,
And all the kine a-lowing,

I hear the boys are out,

And for Adonis craving;

So quickly turn about,

And then-begin a-shaving.
Toora-loora-loo-Toora-loora-lido!

Off I cast my cap,

And put on all my habits, Then pray where is the chap Like me to hunt the rabbits? Both right and left I dart

My well-directed arrows, And pierce right through the heart At least a score of sparrows. Toora-loora-loo-Toora-loora-lido!

Of all the sports I know,

The chase to me the best is;

The rooks my clever bow

Knocks clean out of their nestes !

I strike the buck in dell,

Or 'cross the green lawn skipping, As sure as Billy Tell

Will hit the golden pippin.

Toora-loora-loo--Toora-loora-lido!

Enamored Echo took up the plaintive burden of this simple song, and "tooraloora-loo" rang through the leafy forest, till, at last, after many cadences and variations, it gave up the ghost in the cave of Silence. He had, however, other audience than the twittering birds, for, looking around him, he beheld a pair of the loveliest eyes that ever reflected the blue sky looking wistfully upon him. Zephyravished sight was fixed by two blooming rus parted the envious leaves, and his cheeks pertaining to ditto.

He rose like a mist drawn up by the rays of the meridian sun from some stagnant pool. He was enchanted; he was a complete bankrupt in speech and locomowould most probably have been lost had tion; and like many another bankrupt, not certain advances been made. The goddess Venus approached the enamored hunter. The titles of god and goddess at that period were as plentiful, by the bye, as those of Baron and Baroness are now-a-days in Russia or Germany.

"O, gentle youth!" cried she, "sing me that sweet song again; and let my ears drink in the intoxicating melody of your voice."

Adonis, however, was too much absorbed in the contemplation of his new acquaintance to attend to her flattering

encore;" and so, instead of a song, treated her with an "overture" of love, which was most favorably received.

Leave we the lovers amidst the leaves to their pleasant conversation, while we give our readers some particulars of this lovely and interesting female.

CHAPTER IV.

The story of Venus.

At the period of this, our true and authentic history, there was a remarkably popular watering-place at the foot of Mount Cythera, frequented by all the ton and fashion of the day. Attending upon one of the "machines" was one of those red-faced, blue-garbed mer-women, whose peculiar province it was to "dip" nervous ladies and squalling bantlings in the

briny wave some fine specimens of the genus are still extant at Margate and other places, where smoke-dried citizens annually migrate for ablution. Well, this worthy woman happened to have a daughter, who proved as unlike her mother as the sweet rose is to the prickly tree on which it blooms. Now, the bathing-woman having no ostensible partner, the ladies of her craft waggishly declared that Venus (the name of the infant) was born of the sea,-a poetical conceit of which both ancient and modern writers have not only taken advantage, but" worked up" with astonishing effect.

Years elapsed, and Venus grew more beautiful every succeeding day; her education was, unfortunately, not the “genteelest," as she diurnally consorted with boatmen and bathing-women; and her mother, fearing her daughter might get into some untoward scrape, accepted the offer of a certain blacksmith in the neighborhood, named Vulcan, who was well-todo in the world, and bestowed her offspring upon him in marriage.

In point of personal beauty, it is impossible to imagine a more unequal union, for he was not only the most ordinary man in the town, but extra-ordinary, and extremely low and vulgar in his speech and manners. In a worldly view, however, it was an excellent match, for he carried on a "roaring trade;" and for some time the couple lived as most married couples do.

But it happened in the following season that a regiment was quartered in the town; and the young and handsome Colonel Mars, who was very partial to his horses, went to the "smithy" to see his favorite charger shod. Venus came into the smithy during the operation with a pot of porter for her husband's morning draught,-Vulcan was hammering away at a red-hot horsehoc,-a random spark struck Mrs. V.'s hand, and she let fall the potation. With wrathful glare, and awful denunciations, the blacksmith approached his trembling "rib." Colonel Mars, with that ready gallantry for which the "cloth" has always been famed, promptly interceded, and parried the impending blow. The pearly tears rolled down the blushing cheeks of Mrs. V., like dew-drops upon a rose leaf, while sobbing, she exclaimed,—

You cruel brute, to-to-use-me so!" and falling into hysterics fit for the

occasion, the enchanted Colonel supported her in his protecting arms.

Vulcan growled, and finished the job. The next morning Mars, disgusted with the place, had marched, bearing with him V.'s ill-used wife, who, at his earnest solicitation, had consented to put herself under his care and protection; and she was now living in genteel retirement in a small cottage orné on the borders of the forest of Libanus.

CHAPTER V.

Which treats of our Hero's acquaintance with Venus.

Asparagus springs up in a single night; equally sudden is the growth of love; yea, even as the cowslip and convolvulus expand beneath the noon-day sun, so do the affections unfold themselves before the smiles of beauty.

Adonis, armed with his bow and quiver, and his boar-spear in his hand, now daily betook himself to the leafy coverts of the forest. It was, however, a remarkable circumstance that he, who was the keenest sportsman of the court of Byblos now rarely returned with any ferine spoil. He was laughed at by his companions for his want of success; but he only returned their jocular sallies with a smile. The fact is, Venus was the only dear" he sought; and urged by love, he had signed an amnesty with all the bucks and fawns that he once pursued so zealously. The bow of Adonis was never bent; for the beau of Byblos was always at the feet of the enchanting daughter of the old bathing-woman of Cythera. It is an old maxim that "love and a cough cannot be hid;" and consequently his absorbing amour was soon discovered by the gallant Colonel M., who would have called out his formidable rival on the instant, had he not apprehended that, should any fatal consequence result to the reigning favorite of the court of Byblos, he might run a narrow chance of losing his commission. With the intuitive caution, therefore, of an old soldier, he determined secretly to undermine the fortress he could not venture openly to assail.

With this resolution he cunningly devised the plot which we shall lay before the eyes of our sagacicus reader in the following chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

Colonel Mars consults with Diana.

Diana held the ostensible situation of keeper of the forest of Libanus, a sinecure which, from the oldest times, has been conferred upon spinsters of the noblest families. To her the engaging soldier addressed himself on the subject of his complaint, relating to her, with a sigh, and in the most delicate phrase of his vocabulary, the naughty "goings on" which he pretended accidentally to have discovered during his perambulations in her wide domain.

The Goddess of Chastity blushed so deeply at the recital of the indignity which had been offered to her by the incautious lovers, that a bystander would really have imagined the virgin's face to have been a mirror in which the red coat of the warlike informer was reflected. The fair huntress stamped with rage, and summoned her train to her presence in an instant, that she might have the advantage of their collective wisdom in discussing this perilous affair.

"Dear lady!" inquired one of the foremost, bow in hand, "what game is started?"

Game, indeed!" said Diana; "here's a pretty kettle of fish! That fellow Adonis

What, that pretty man?"

"Pretty man!" repeated Diana. "I desire, Miss, that you never talk of pretty men to me. If I thought for a moment that you, or any of you, had dared to look upon a man and think of him, I would discharge you immediately without a character."

The whole bevy of damsels made a unanimous declaration that they would not for the world have been so wicked.

Listen to me," continued she, with the authoritative tone of the mistress of a ladies' boarding-school; "this Adonis has dared to make assignations with a female in our territory."

"O, shocking!" issued from the lips of the awe-struck group in one voice. "This worthy gentleman," pointing to Mars, who humbly bent to her, while, with the tail of his eyes, he leered at her train. "This worthy gentleman, with feelings which do honor to his strict morality (the Colonel drew his breath and looked rather sheepish at this unmerited compliment), has made a state

ment to me of the whole disgraceful proceedings. Now, I know that to seek for his condign punishment at the court is a hopeless task; for mine own honor, I must therefore be the judge and the executioner in this flagrant business." Diana pondered for a moment, and then resumed,

"It has just flashed across my mind that we can settle this business in a twinkling." She uttered this sentence so volubly that all the nymphs were sensibly excited by her animation. "You know," continued their leader, "that we have a huge he-pig in the sty,-an untamable brute, with a corkscrew tail and a pretty considerable pair of tusks."

"The Duke of Tuscany?" said one of the nymphs.

"The same," replied Diana: "and it is my intention to give the ferocious beast his freedom; and, by my bow and quiver! I think if he encounters this spruce gallant, he'll spoil his sport."

"Admirable!" exclaimed the delighted Colonel M.; "consummate wisdom! and if Adonis escape, it will certainly be in spite of his teeth!"

Diana and her nymphs laughed heartily at this sally, and the thing was determined upon. The cunning and revengeful Mars made his obeisance to the fair huntress and her train, and departed with the firm assurance of their active co-operation in his well-concerted plans.

CHAPTER VII. The Last.

The sun arose and the son of the arborified Myrrha departed from the court to the accustomed rendezvous. His elastic step and his beating heart were as light as the luxuriant curls that clustered upon his ivory brow. The little birds were warbling their matutinal songs to a running accompaniment of the rippling rivulets, when Adonis was suddenly startled from his amorous reverie by a rustling among the leaves, accompanied by a most unmusical grunt. He had scarcely time to poise his spear when the tremendous tusks of the "well-acorned boar" protruded from the thicket.

"What a boar!" exclaimed the elegant and accomplished swain, in a mingled tone of admiration and dismay.

He eyed his bristly hide for a moment, and then hurled his death-dealing and

When the unsuspecting Venus came trippingly forward to meet her beloved Adonis

"Here I am, at length!" she cried, laughing, and Adonis, could he have spoken, would have appropriately echoed her very words, without the laugh, however; for there he lay upon his favorite bank of thyme, like a child's diaper pinafore on a Sunday morning, with all the marks of the mangling upon him! The beautiful daughter of the old bathingwoman uttered a shriek that would have pierced the ears of a rhinoceros. But the remorseless hand of death had slackened the drum of his, and he heard not. When she became aware of the full extent of her misfortune, she wildly expressed every demonstration of sorrow and despair

"Pariterque sinus, pariterque capillos
Rupit, et indignis percussit pectora palmis!"

Vide Ovidii metamor. lib x.
ALFRED CROWQUILL.

THE subjoined incident is sent to us by a Southern correspondent, as related by a Virginia negro. If it is true, the parrot was certainly a remarkable bird: "You see," said he, "dis parrot belonged to a baker in Richmond. Now, each baker is 'lowed to make a certain number of loaves ebery day, and no more, 'cordin' to how many customers he got; 'cause if dey bake too much, dey will be

servin' out stale bread to de customers. Well, dis baker had baked more'n his share one day, and hid de rest ob 'um under de counter. De parrot was hangin' in his cage, and see it all. Bime-by, in comes de inspector, and finds de bread all right, and is goin' out agin satisfied, when de parrot cocks his eye at him, and sings out, Dere's more bread under the counter!' So de inspector grabs it, 'cordin' to law, and carries it off. Well, den de baker goes to de parrot, werry mad, and takes him by the de head and fotches him a twitch or two, and flings him into de gutter for dead, 'longside of a pig just dead of the measles. Bime-by. de parrot begins to crawl about, his feathers a stickin' out, and his head lopped on one side, and den he stops and looks at de pig, werry pitiful, and says he, 'did you say any ting about de bread?'"

AN Ohio correspondent becomes sponsor for the following, which, as a matter of fact, he wishes to put on record. Whittaker is one of the richest men in those parts, and has made his money by driving sharp bargains. His hired man was one day going along with a load of hay, which he overturned upon a cow. The poor thing was smothered to death before they could get her out. Her owner, Jones, called upon Mr. Whittaker the next day, and demanded payment for the loss of his

COW.

"Certainly," said Mr. Whittaker, "what do you suppose she was worth?" "Well, about ten dollars," said Jones. "And how much did you get for the hide and tallow?"

"Ten dollars and a half, sir."

“Oh, well, then you owe me just fifty cents."

Jones was mystified, and Whittaker very fierce in his demand, and before Jones could get the thing straight in his mind, he forked over the money.